Test Your IPA I.Q.

After attending a recent lecture by noted beer author Josh Bernstein, the staff here at Draught Lines decided it was time to put our money where our mouth is…

Back in March, Bernstein, author of Complete IPA: The Guide to Your Favorite Craft Beer, hosted a lecture titled “A Guide to IPAs” where he discussed craft beer’s most ubiquitous style and its seemingly endless variations.

Following his presentation, and some healthy debate, we decided it was time to see who had the best palate by conducting an old fashioned blind IPA taste-off.

First we grabbed a bunch of our favorite IPAs, but you can choose whatever sub-styles you’d like. Here’s what we used:

We opened the bottles and placed them in paper bags so we couldn’t tell which beer was inside. Then we numbered them 1 through 10. Placing a cup next to each beer, we all tasted them. When the answers were revealed, some of us were more successful than others – nailing a beer style is harder than you’d think.

Have fun testing your IPA I.Q. And don’t forget… if you talk trash, you have to back it up!